Judicial panel redraws legislative districts

JEFFERSON CITY — House and Senate redistricting maps released yesterday could result in big legislative changes in 2012 and perhaps add to the number of Boone Countians serving as lawmakers.

The House map reduces to two from three the number of full House districts wholly within the borders of Boone County. But it does make Boone County voters the majority in three more.

The new boundaries put the homes of at least 50 House members in a district with another incumbent. State Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, now lives in a district that includes portions of Cole, Moniteau and Cooper counties and is also home to Rep. Caleb Jones, R-California.

The state headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties — hardly places where opinions are difficult to find — had little to say about the maps unveiled yesterday by the Appellate Apportionment Commission.

The commission was made up of six appeals court judges who took over reapportionment after bipartisan commissions could not agree on a map. Based on advice from Assistant Attorney General Jim Layton, it claimed a blanket exemption to all Sunshine Law requirements. The Senate map, some said, is subject to a challenge for splitting counties.

Columbia residents make up the bulk of the two districts wholly within Boone County. Rep. Mary Still and Rep. Stephen Webber, both Democrats, said they are pleased with the new district lines. Still’s district will be the 45th. It includes the University of Missouri campus and north-central Columbia. Webber’s 46th District is generally the southwest portion of the city.

Still believes she would have no trouble getting re-elected but said she is considering a challenge to Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, in the reconfigured 19th Senate District.

The 19th District now consists of Boone and Howard counties instead of Boone and Randolph. It leans Democratic, but voters cast 55 percent of their ballots for Republicans in 2010. “It is certainly something to look at,” Still said of a Senate bid. “That would be a district that really represents my values.”

Schaefer said he’s not worried about a challenge and expects to win the district by presenting a moderate image.

“I think I have been successful working in a contentious environment with Democrats and Republicans,” he said.

Kelly’s district has a Republican tilt, with 55 percent of the ballots cast for the GOP from 2002 to 2010. Still, Kelly said he’s happy with the map. Of the district’s 36,823 residents, about 27,000 live in Boone County, he said.

Kelly went to California, Mo., yesterday afternoon to begin preparing for the campaign.

“I like representing rural voters,” Kelly said. “I will do more of it.”

One Boone County-based district, the 44th, takes in the northeast quarter of the county but has no sitting lawmaker who lives within its boundaries.

The 44th District includes about 900 people around Clark in Randolph County.

The 47th District includes northwestern Boone County, along with pieces of Cooper, Howard and Randolph counties.

Potential challenges to the maps could be based on constitutional and Sunshine Law grounds. The Senate apportionment map splits three counties into two or more Senate districts. That is not allowed under the constitution unless the county’s population is enough for a full Senate district.

Lobbyist James Harris, a one-time aide to former Gov. Matt Blunt, heads an organization called Better Courts for Missouri. He said the secrecy surrounding the map needs to be pierced, and he intends to file requests for documents today.

“When they operate behind closed doors and release such a highly charged and brazen map, it begs the question of, ‘How did they draw this?’ ” Harris said.

Yancy Williams, aide to Schaefer and a member of the bipartisan Senate Apportionment Commission, said that group followed the Sunshine Law. He said he can’t understand why the judicial panel was not subject to the same rules.

“I am deeply concerned that the process started out as a public process and it turned into a process that was conducted behind closed doors in a veil of darkness,” Williams said.

This page has been revised to make the following correction:

SECOND THOUGHTS: Saturday, December 3, 2011

An article Thursday incorrectly reported that Rep. Randy Asbury, R-Higbee, lives in the newly drawn 47th House District. Asbury lives in the 48th District, which includes portions of Randolph, Howard, Chariton, Saline, Pettis and Cooper counties.